Women in Public Life Chapter 6 Section 2

A. Opportunities for Women 1. Higher Education Few education opportunities for women in 1800s In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio was the 1st college to admit men and women 1870, about 20% of college students were women By 1900, more than 1/3 of college students were women Most were middle or upper class Many professions still did not admit women Instead, women put their efforts into reform movements

2. Employment Opportunities In early 1800s, educated women worked as teachers an nurses By 1900, women were working in businesses as bookkeepers, typists, secretaries, and shop clerks Newspapers and magazines began to hire women as writers and artists Uneducated women worked in factories

B. Gaining Political Experience 1. Children’s Health and Welfare Many women were progressives They campaigned for an end to child labor Women thought that the gov’t had a responsibility to take care of children Many wanted a federal agency to oversee the well-being of children The Federal Children’s Bureau was created in 1912

2. Prohibition Many women participated in the Prohibition movement Many believed that alcohol was the cause of poverty, crime, and violence against women and children

The Women Christian’s Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League were two organizations that pushed prohibition Many reformers pushed for prohibition in Protestant churches Billy Sunday was a famous prohibition preacher Carrie Nation was an infamous prohibitionist -she would go into saloons and smash liquor bottles with a hatchet Prohibitionists convinced congress to pass the 18th Amendment in 1919, but it was repealed 14 years later

3. Civil Rights African American women fought for the same things as white women They had the added burden of fighting racial discrimination In 1896, black women founded the National Association of Colored Women Many famous African American women joined the NACW, inlcuding Harriet Tubman The NACW campaigned against poverty, segregation, and lynching It also fought Jim Crow Laws

C. Rise of the Women’s Suffrage Movement The Seneca Falls Convention Seneca Falls Convention had been an early step towards suffrage After the Civil War, some thought that women should be included in the 15th Amendment By the 1870s, two women campaigned for a constitutional amendment: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

2. Susan B. Anthony Tests the Law Most well-known women’s suffragist Wrote pamphlets and made speeches She also went to Congress and fought for suffrage In 1872, her and three other women registered and attempted to vote in NY They were arrested At her trial, Anthony was fined $100 She refused to pay, hoping that the court would throw her in jail and she could appeal to higher courts The court voted not to put her in jail

Congress said that even though women were citizens, that still did not give them the right to vote They said that each state could decide on their own Wyoming was first territory to allow women suffrage Therefore women began to campaign state by state in order to win women’s suffrage

3. Anti-Suffrage Arguments “Voting would interfere with women’s duties in the home” “Women in politics would destroy the home” “Women did not have the education to vote” “Women do not really want to vote” “It is unfair for suffragists to force women to vote” Liquor companies did not want to give women the right to vote Businesses did not want to give women the right to vote (get rid of child labor) Churches thought that women should not vote because it could hurt the home